Shoe-form.



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INALTER L. C. NIL-ES, OF LYNN,- MASSACHUSETTS.

I l I SHOE-FORM.

- To all whom it may concern..-

Be it known that I, WALTER L. O. NILEs, a citizen of the Uni-ted States,residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massa- 5 chusetts,have invented, certain new and useful Improvements in Shoe-Forms; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable'others skilled in theart to which I it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to shoe forms or trees, and has for itsobject to produce a shoe form or tree of a light and simple constructionand one which is readily adapted for the use of drummers in displayingtheirsamples or as a follower to take the placeof the last in the shoewhile the shoe is unde'rgoing its finishing operations in the factory,or it can be used as such devices are now very 2 commonly used as astretcher or formerv in order to restore and preserve the shape of thevamp portions of shoes by wearers and maintain the sole in its properhorizontal" and the at present so much desired flat posi I 2 5 tion.

To the above ends the present invention consists of the improvedshoe-form which will now be described and claimed.

The present invention is illustrated in the 3 accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure 1 shows a top plan view of the dev1ce. section through thefoot-piece or fore part with the brace in side elevation. Fig. 3

shows a bottom plan view of the device.

Similar reference characters will be employed throughout thespecification and drawings to designate corresponding parts.

In the drawings, a, is the fore part, and-b 4 the rear part or bracehinged to the fore part a, at 0, so that the brace may be turned upwardand forward with relation to the fore part for the purpose offacilitating the introduction of the device into and its removal fromthe shoe. The fore part a is in shape substantially that of the forepart of a last and will be made any shape and size corre sponding to theshape and size of the shoe,

or approximately so, with which the device 5 is intended to be used. Thefore part a is made of any desired or preferred material, and for thepurpose of reducing its weight said fore part is made hollow andpreferably of some thin sheet material,such as a light sheet metal; butin practice I make the same of a fibrous material, such as papier-machor Specification of Letters Patent, Application filed March-3, 1902.Serial No. 96,385.

- operation.

Fig. 2 shows a longitudinal vertical Patented Dec. 5, 1905.

other fibrous board, which by suitable treat ment is hardened to such anextent as to maintain its shape under any pressure to which it may besubjected in the use for which it is designed. r v The braceb ispreferably made of Wire of suitable dimension in cross section and Jstrength to maintain the fore part a forced closely into the fore partof the shoe when in I The pivot c, which couples the parts together, isfastened in a metallic standard or clip 0Z which is secured 'to theinnerface of the bottom 0 by means of rivets f or many other suitable orconvenient manner, 7 the clip or brace d performing the double function,as will be observed, of receiving thepivot 0, which couples the parts aand b, and also of securely uniting the meeting edges of the bottom 6 ofthe fore part.

.In practice the brace 12 will be made slightly longer than is necessaryto cause its rear end to impinge against the inner face of the counterof the heel portion of the shoe and so formed as to impart a yieldingthrust to 8Q the fore part to carry it into the toe portion of the shoe,and this is secured by forming the part b with an upwardly-extendingarch g, which will yield sufficiently to enable .the brace 12 to move upand down in the shoe in 5 inserting and removing the device and at thesame time maintain a yielding pressure while the device is in positionin the shoe. The brace at each side of the arch g preferably is bentupwardly at a slight angle, as shown9 clearly inFig. 2.

For the purpose of readily manipulating the brace 12 I provide it at itsrear end with the loop or eye it, into which the finger may 'be insertedin order to raise the brace b in removing the device from the shoe. Inorder to insure that when the device is in position in the shoe thereshall be suflicient space between the loop or eye it and the heel-seatof the shoe, I have provided the brace h with a foot or stop a, formedby bending the wire around the body of the brace 12 and thence downwardat substantially right angles, as shown clearly in Fig. 2.

It will be noted that'the device is simple in construction and cheaplymade, and that the simple brace 72, made of wire, as described, takesthe place of the cumbersome and heavy devices present in the shoe-formsof the prior art, and that the upward-extending arch 9 will producesuflicient resiliency to admit of the free insertion'and removal of thedevice and secure the desired longitudinal elastic pressure to maintainthe fore part in close contact with the toe portion of the shoe.

In order to permit of the ventilation of the device and the rapidevaporation of any moisture which may be in the lining of the fore partof the shoe, the bottom 6 of the fore part is provided with a largeopening 70 and the top of the fore part with apertures m, a desirablefeature, but not an essential feature of the present invention.

As is well known to those skilled in the art, shoes are made withvarying degrees of swingthat is to say, the angular disposition of thefore part of a shoe with relation to the shank and rear part varyconsiderably in difierent shoes, so that in those shoes havingconsiderable swing or in which the fore part of the sole turns sharplyinward with relation to the shank and rear part of the shoe it is quitediflicult to use the forms of the prior art indiscriminately with allshoes. Those that would be capable of use with a comparatively straightshoe would be impractical, not to say impossible, of use in a shoehaving considerable swing. It thus happens that in those forms havingcomparatively rigid braces or rods either the rod will have to be bentor shaped to conform to the lon-' gitudinal lines of the shoe or elsethe end of said brace rod where it bears against the counter of the shoewill strike said counter to one side or the other of the center, thusdistorting the shoe and, furthermore, finding an insecure hearing. In mydevice, however, it will be noted that the brace-rod is free to swinglaterally and that by reason of its arched connection to conform to thelongitu dinal lines of the shoe whether said shoe be straight orangular, and this without imparting any strain to the hinge or unionwhich connects the brace to the fore part.

It is thought that the operation of the device has been suflicientlydisclosed in connection with the foregoing description of its form andarrangement and that a further description of its operation will bedeemed unnecessary.

Having described my invention, I claim as new and desire to protect byLetters Patent of the United States 1. A shoe-form, comprising a hollowfore part, a standard secured to and uniting the meeting edges of saidfore part, and a brace pivotally connected to said standard,substantially as described.

2. A shoe-form, comprising a fore part, a wire brace pivotally connectedto said fore part, a loop or eye at the rear end of the brace and a stopextending downward from said brace in front of said loop or eye,substantially as described.

3. A shoe-form, comprising a fore part, a wire brace pivotally connectedto said fore part, a loop or eye at the rear end of the brace, a stopextending downward from said brace in front of said loop or eye and anintegrallyformed arched portion intermediate the ends of said brace,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WALTER L. C. NILES.

Witnesses:

MABEL E. ADAMS, T. HART ANDERSON.

